


Silly Humans, Infinity Stones Aren't For You

by TheAvengersMascot



Series: All That Matters [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bros of Asgard, Community: norsekink, Fury is so done, Gen, Loki is well-adjusted, Thor means well but he's still a bit pig-headed, but still a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-16 15:57:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3494246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAvengersMascot/pseuds/TheAvengersMascot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are always risks and unknown variables with any new undertaking, and Nick Fury knows it. But even someone with his many years of experience could still be surprised. Especially when their shiny blue space battery (aka the Tesseract) takes it upon itself to summon someone from the other end of the galaxy. Someone who happens to share the name of a mythological god.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _**Disclaimer:**_ All characters belong to Marvel, as does the dialogue borrowed from the Avengers film.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is less a sequel to _The Hardest Battles_ and more of a side story that occurred to me while writing that fic. I think this can be read as a standalone but I may not be the best person to judge. All you really need to know is that in this verse, Odin noticed Loki drawing away from his family while still a youth and took steps to fix that. Along the way, he also noticed some serious character flaws developing in Thor and likewise corrected those. So both boys are much more well-adjusted here.
> 
> Also, the first chapter borrows quite heavily from the intro of The Avengers, which means it didn't take me too long to write. As a result, you should be getting chapter two later tonight or tomorrow at the latest. So stay tuned!

_Why do these things always happen in the middle of the night?_

Nick Fury, director of SHIELD gazed out the helicopter window at the facility below, wondering again why these damn emergency calls never arrived at a reasonable hour of the day. A steady stream of people and vehicles exited the building below, the Joint Dark Energy Mission, site of Project Pegasus. A lone figure in a black suit stood by the landing pad. Fury spared half a second's thought to wonder why Agent Coulson was wearing sunglasses when the sun had long since gone down before moving on to more important things in his head. 

The chopper touched down and Maria Hill was first out the door. Agent Coulson removed his shades and took a few steps forward to meet them.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked, raising his voice to be heard over the still turning rotors of the helicopter.

"That's the problem, sir," Coulson answered. "We don't know."

The three of them proceeded indoors and into an elevator whereupon Coulson resumed briefing them.

"Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hours ago," he said as they exited the lift.

"NASA didn't authorize him to go to test phase."

"He wasn't testing it. He wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous event."

Hill spoke up. "It just turned itself on?"

"What are the energy levels now?" Fury asked as they passed a series of agents and guards packing items into crates and cases for removal.

"Climbing. When Selvig couldn't shut it down we ordered evac."

"How long to get everyone out?"

"Campus should be clear in the next half-hour."

Fury turned to look at him directly. "Do better."

Coulson departed with a terse nod. Fury and Hill continued on, descending a lengthy spiral staircase down into the test bunker.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile."

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?"

Hill wasn't bothered by the sarcasm. "If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance."

"I need you to make sure the Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out."

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" she asked, opinion clear in her tone. "We-"

Fury turned around to face her. "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone."

She took a breath before answering. "Yes sir." Hill nodded her head at two guards just beyond where they were standing. "With me."

He continued into the cavernous bunker strewn with computers and tech that looked like it was ripped out of the starship Enterprise. He spied Selvig behind the Tesseract's containment chamber. "Talk to me, Doctor."

The doctor's head popped up from behind the equipment and he came around it to meet Fury. "Director."

"Is there anything we know for certain?"

"The Tesseract is misbehaving."

As he spoke the words, sparks flew out from the artifact. They both turned to see a technician withdrawing something that resembled a modified stethoscope from it. The business end was charred and burned away.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asked.

"No, it's not funny at all," Selvig replied. Together they strode over to the device. "The Tesseract is not only active, she's... behaving."

Selvig's confounded head shake did nothing to reassure Fury. "I assume you pulled the plug."

"She's an energy source. We turn the power off, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..."

Fury halted while the Tesseract continued to spark and flare behind him and Selvig continued on to examine one of the computer monitors. "We prepared for this Doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"But we don't have the harness. My calculations are far from complete. And she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

Fury had turned to look back at the Tesseract but Selvig's words brought him facing front again. "That can be harmful. Where's Agent Barton?"

Selvig actually scoffed. "The Hawk?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Up in his nest as usual."

Way up in the rafters was a crouching black shape. Fury keyed his radio. "Agent Barton, report."

Barton jumped up and snatched a climbing rope tied to one of the railings. He slid down it with ease.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," Fury said without preamble when Barton reached him.

"Well, I see better from a distance," the agent returned, unperturbed. The two of them headed back toward the Tesseract.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?"

One of the female technicians stepped out from behind another bank of monitors. "Doctor, it's spiking again."

Selvig hurried over to check the readings himself.

"No one's come or gone," Barton told Fury. "And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IMs. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

By then they had gotten as close as they dared. Fury looked at his agent and repeated, "At _this_ end?"

"Yeah, the Cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Well, doors open from both sides."

The words scarcely left his mouth the Tesseract became more than just "active". Light flared around it, warping and distorting around the containment chamber. A beam of light shot out from the Cube toward the capacitors. A ring of black smoke took shape, throwing off bolts of blue lightning. At the centre of the ring a black pool began to form. It grew wider and wider and for a split second, Fury saw stars in the pool before an energy shockwave pulsed through the room, shorting out all the computers and blinding everyone with a flash of light. Once the sparks faded from his vision, Fury looked back where the opening had been. At first he saw nothing but smoke and the orange glow of the overburdened capacitors. As his sight cleared however, he saw a figure huddled at the centre of the smoke. Four guards moved in, rifles at the ready. No one made a sound as the figure stood, revealing himself to be a man.

"Sir, how did you get in here?" Fury called out. "This is a highly restricted facility."

The man, who was dressed like he escaped from some kind of science fiction themed renaissance fair looked from him, to Barton, to the guards, his confused eyes scanning the faces of the people watching him. His features suddenly twisted with pain as one hand clutched his side. His face was pale with circles under his eyes so dark it made him look like the loser of a bar fight, strung out and beat up.

"Sir, who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man straightened up again but his hand didn't leave his side. "I..." was all he said, trailing off as his eyes landed on the glowing blue cube behind Barton. His jaw fell open. "Oh, you unbelievable fools!"


	2. Chapter 2

"What in Bor's name are you playing at, mortals?" the pale stranger demanded. Though his appearance was rather sickly, his voice was powerful and authoritative.

"I'm not answering any of your questions until you answer mine," Fury returned. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man lifted his chin with a distinctly haughty air, though the imperious impression he was trying to give suffered when he winced a moment later and in what looked like an involuntary motion, his left hand clutched at a spot just below his rib cage. "I am Loki, of Asgard. And you are meddling with forces far beyond your ken."

There was no mistaking his accusatory tone. Coupled with the way he flung his right hand out to point at the Cube and glared, he sounded almost like a lawyer grilling a witness in court.

From behind him, Fury heard Selvig take a sharp inhale.

"Loki," he breathed. "Brother of Thor."

Fury glanced over his shoulder, confident the half-dozen guards and agents with weapons trained on the intruder would cover his back. "You know him?"

Selvig made a bit of a helpless looking shrug. "Just from the stories I grew up with but that's all they were. Stories."

"I assure you, they are not," a somewhat scornful voice declared. Fury turned back and saw that Loki was now looking past him to the doctor. "Now, as I have answered your questions, I demand to know what you are doing with _that_."

"All you've given me is a name," Fury said. "One which given its origin in myth is probably an alias. That tells me nothing. How did you get in here?"

"I don't know where here is, save that I am on Midgard. My coming here was not deliberate." Loki's eyes travelled around the space, looking unimpressed.

"What does that mean?" Fury pressed.

Loki's gaze came back to him. "I've felt disturbances through Yggdrasil for some time now. I was close to pinpointing their origin when something pulled me through the spaces between worlds. I can only assume it was your imbecilic efforts to... what exactly were you doing?"

"That's not your concern."

Loki's eyes narrowed, their haughty glint becoming something more like anger and beside Fury, Barton's hand tightened on his pistol.

"Not my concern," Loki repeated. "Your meddling has sent shockwaves throughout the nine realms, strong enough for me to sense in Asgard. Those selfsame efforts dragged me here _from my home_ , an outcome not deliberate on either of our parts as you and your people were no less surprised than I. I would say your intentions are very much my concern."

Fury eyed Loki, not sure what to make of him. The guy had attitude in spades, that much was obvious, and he gave the impression that he knew at least something about the Tesseract, which was worrisome considering in whose possession the relic was before Steve Rogers lost it in the ocean. There was also the not-so-insignificant matter of him claiming to be the namesake of a mythological being from a mythological realm.

"Who did you say you were again?" he asked, earning himself a vaguely contemptuous eye roll.

"I am Loki, son of Odin and prince of Asgard," Loki said with a tone that suggested the names should mean something to them.

"And when you say you 'sensed' the Tesseract, what does that mean?"

"Perhaps you should be less concerned with such inanities and devote a little more attention to that." Loki pointed to the space above his head where the blue-tinged edges of the portal were still swirling.

"Doctor?"

"The computers are still rebooting. It'll take-"

"Give me an educated guess, Selvig," Fury cut him off, Maria Hill's warning about what could happen if the Tesseract's energy wasn't brought under control still clear in his mind.

"The portal was unstable. If the readings we saw before the computers went down were accurate, it can't sustain for much longer before collapsing."

"He's right," Loki affirmed. "It's collapsing even as we speak and it will bury this entire facility. And perhaps everything else for several leagues around."

"We should bug out," Barton said quietly, eyes never leaving Loki. "We can cuff him and take him with us. Sort this out someplace else."

Who or whatever Loki was, there was nothing wrong with his hearing. "That would be most unwise."

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm entirely certain I am the only one here capable of closing the portal. Safely."

"How?"

Loki's expression was just a shade too condescending to be called a grin when he answered, "Believe me, we have not the time for explanations. I swear on my somewhat dubious honour that I will not harm you or any of your people if you refrain from doing the same to me."

"Sir, we don't have time for this," Barton hissed, still trying to be stealthy.

"You really don't," Loki added, presumably just to be annoying.

Fury weighed the risk of trusting the unknown factor that was Loki against the loss of a two billion dollar facility. He knew better than most that there was almost no such thing as a sure thing. Either Loki was trying to help or he wasn't and they didn't have enough time to determine which before they were buried under a million tons of steel and rock. Fury only survived as long as he had because he knew when to trust his gut and right now, his gut was telling him that Loki wasn't an immediate threat.

He scanned the room, making eye contact with every agent he could. "Hold your fire." Turning to Loki, he said, "You have two minutes."

Loki nodded and for the first time, dropped any affectations of arrogance. He took a few steps back and leaned his head back to get a better view of things. The energy at the edges of the portal continued to spin around, throwing off sparks that didn't seem to bother Loki in the slightest. He raised his arms, hands reaching over his head. The next second, he doubled over in pain.

"Director, we need to pull the plug," Hawkeye insisted.

"No!" Loki barked, still hunched over. "This is nothing. I will close it."

"Ninety seconds," Fury told him.

Taking a moment to steel himself, Loki lifted his arms again. He still flinched pretty badly when they went above his head but he stayed upright. For a second or two, it looked like nothing was happening. Just when Fury was about to agree with Barton and call it quits, he saw it. A greenish glow was gathering around Loki's outstretched hands. It grew brighter and brighter as he spread his hands wide, the glow forming a bridge between them. It enveloped his arms down to the elbow before stretching out and up the other way. Wisps of green snaked upward, encircling the deteriorating portal. The green... whatever it was, which had seemed no more substantial than smoke suddenly appeared to solidify. It encased the entire portal, the tendrils forming a glowing latticework around it. Between them flowed some kind of energy with a golden hue.

That was when Loki smiled.

The grin, illuminated by the portal and whatever Loki put in place to contain, it looked just this side of manic. In that instant, Fury was sure Loki was about to betray them somehow and he reached for his own sidearm, the order to fire on the tip of his tongue. He was about to give it when Loki moved. He slowly began bringing his arms together and above him, the containment field began to shrink. As its sides pulled together, the golden gleam of its energy got even brighter, becoming hard to look at. Inside the field the portal was fighting back. It pulsed and writhed, dashing against the sides of the barrier but the field held. Loki continued bringing his hands together and down and slowly, the portal shrunk down to nothing. When the inevitable collapse happened, it threw off a few tiny sparks that would be put to shame by cake sparklers.

Fury was still looking at the empty space where the portal had been when Loki collapsed, falling ungracefully to his knees. His eyes were closed and his hand was again pressed to his side.

"How did you do that?"

Loki huffed out a harsh sounding laugh. "I could give you a full explanation but I fear most of it is outside your scope of imagination. I suppose the term you'd most easily understand is... magic."

"Magic," Fury repeated dryly. Loki nodded, at which point Fury thought, _I am too old for this shit._

"What now, sir?" Barton questioned from his side, his firearm lowered but with the safety still off.

Despite his earlier propensity for butting in, Loki had nothing to volunteer this time. He seemed to be ignoring them in favour of massaging his temples with the hand that wasn't still supporting his ribs. Before Fury could answer, his earpiece beeped.

_"Director Fury, what's the situation down there?"_ came Hill's voice.

"I think we're all clear." Fury glanced at Loki who lifted his head long enough to give an exhausted nod.

_"Good, because we have another situation topside, sir."_

"What now?"

_"There's a guy here claiming we have his brother inside."_

Fury resisted the urge to sigh. Just what they needed, some nut of a civilian thinking the scientific facility was a detention center. "Get rid of him. You know the drill."

_"I'm not sure that would be wise."_

"Why the hell not?"

_"He's pretty insistent."_

That time, Fury did sigh. "Did you get a name?"

There was a lengthy pause on Maria's end of the comm. _"Yeah. He says his name is... Thor."_

Fury closed his eye and pinched the bridge of his nose. _I am definitely too old for this shit._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay everyone. I meant to have this up sooner but you know, life.

So the dark energy facility nearly imploded, the Tesseract was opening portals all on its own, one alleged Norse deity came through said portal, and from the sound of it another one was waiting on the surface.

That's just the kind of day it was for the director of SHIELD.

Fury turned his back on Loki hoping to conceal his half of the conversation with Maria Hill from him. "Give me a description."

_"Six-four, six-five maybe. Blond hair, red cape. Wearing some serious body armor and he's got... well I think it's a hammer on steroids. He..."_

She paused and Fury could hear someone yelling near her. Had to be the other visitor if it wasn't coming through on the comm.

_"He's pretty insistent on coming inside. Seems to think there's a problem with his brother."_

"That's not happening. Keep him up there until we have more intel."

_"With respect sir, I don't think that's going to work."_

"You saying it's the wrong call?"

_"I'm saying I don't think he's going to let it be our call. If he decides to force his way in I'm not sure we could stop him. One of the agents up here was a little twitchy when Thor appeared. He tried tasing him and when that didn't work, he shot him three times."_

Fury could only hope to hell that trigger happy agent hadn't just initiated hostilities with someone who might have the same kind of powers Loki just evidenced. "Tell me nobody's dying up here."

_"No casualties. Bullets bounced right off the body armor and apparently the taser tickles. He's still demanding to see his brother. Does that mean anything to you?"_

"Maybe. Stand by." He turned back around to see Loki was sitting on the edge of the gangway with one elbow propped on his knee and his forehead resting on the heel of his palm. "Does the name Thor mean anything to you?"

"I should think so," Loki replied without opening his eyes. "My brother is called Thor."

"Blond hair, red cape, carries a big hammer?"

"Indeed." After a beat, his eyes opened and he looked up. "Why do you ask?"

"Someone fitting that description is on the surface. Claims his brother is down here."

Loki somehow managed to perk up and look even more tired at the same time. He sat up straighter but there was a notable decrease of tension in his posture. "Then I suggest you let him in before he deems it neccessary to take matters into his own hands. Mjolnir is not what one would call a subtle means of entry."

Fury had no idea what a 'meyolneer' was but having narrowly avoided the destruction of the base he was in no mood to see things escalate again by pissing off a couple of superpowered beings. Besides, if Hill was right and Loki was telling the truth it wouldn't matter if he said No to letting Thor inside, not if he would just force his way in.

"Hill, let out guest in but give him an escort. They're to come straight down to the testing chamber. No detours."

_"Understood,"_ she replied. Fury didn't have to see her face to know she was relieved. It came through clear enough in her voice.

"All right," he said, directing his words to Loki again. "Your brother is on his way. Now tell me who you are and how the hell you got in here."

"My answers have not changed since the last time you asked."

"Humour me."

Loki didn't bother trying to hide his eyeroll. "I am Loki, son of Odin, the king of Asgard and All-Father to the Nine Realms. The Tesseract brought me here because its power connected with my own as I searched for it." He paused and his eyebrows furrowed. "Though I did not come by way of Hel. Your grasp of interrealm configuration troubles me."

"The Tesseract is a power source," Fury replied. "How could it do anything like what you described?"

The look Loki got on his face at that point made it seem like he couldn't decide whether to be amused by the question or pity them all for their apparent stupidity.

"The Tesseract is far more than a power source, and if using it in such a way was your aim, I shudder to think of your ignorance." Apparently he rejected both pity and amusement and instead settled for patronizing.

Choosing to ignore the dig at their intelligence, Fury said, "Our plans for it are classified."

"Those plans will end with mass destruction if you persist in what you were doing."

"Everything has risks."

"True, but not everything risks obliterating your entire realm and tearing a hole in the fabric of space."

The two of them engaged in a minor staring contest while Fury considered what to do next. Loki had a sense of entitlement that wasn't all that surprising if he was in fact a prince. It was a bit irksome but ultimately harmless. What gave him pause was that underneath the attitude was what felt to him like a genuine conviction that their goal of using the Cube to extract energy from space was not only doomed to fail, but end in disaster.

Echoes of booted feet on the concrete floor announced the arrival of Thor and the contingent of SHIELD guards guiding him in. Fury's first glimpse was of a blond head visible above all the others. Thor was almost a full head taller than all of his escorts.

"Brother!" he bellowed. The two agents in front of Thor were nearly bowled over as he pushed past them and dashed to Loki's side. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, Thor," Loki told him, getting to his feet. A wince and a sharp gasp as he straightened up betrayed him, though. Thor was on him in an instant, grabbing him by the shoulders and steadying him on his feet.

"What was that? Are you injured?" Thor's head turned toward Fury. "What have you done to him?"

As the current target of Thor's attention, Fury understood why Hill thought none of them could stop Thor. Even if his invulnerability was just due to his body armor, the rage in his booming voice made it clear nothing would stop him from protecting what was his own. Fortunately for everyone, Thor included, Loki saved them for the second time in two minutes.

"They've done nothing to me Thor. Save for what brought me here."

"Loki, Heimdall saw you disappear in a surge of energy so powerful it nearly blinded him. If they-"

"Brother, listen to me," Loki cut him off, going so far as grabbing Thor by the chin to get his attention. "I am hale. There is no call for histrionics or heroics."

"Then explain this." Thor jabbed at Loki's other hand which was once again shielding that same spot below his ribs. Loki hissed in pain and slapped Thor's hand away, green sparks flaring at his fingertips.

"And if I was injured," he growled, "how would your pawing at the wound be of any benefit?"

With a tone like that, Fury half expected Loki to smack Thor upside the head the way his grandfather used to do to him when he thought young Nicholas was being a smartass. The slap didn't come and probably never would since Thor's expression turned sheepish and Loki seemed placated at the sight.

"Then what pains you so?" Thor asked, much more calmly.

"The portal was unstable when I was pulled into it. It was not the smoothest of travels and nothing like as fast as the bifrost. I had not the time to recover from the violence of the journey after I came through as the mortals had no means of closing the portal themselves. Had I not been here to do it for them, this place would be naught but rubble."

"But what caused such a thing? When you disappeared neither Father nor Heimdall could see you for hours."

Loki pointed to the Cube. "The mortals seem to think _that_ is merely a power source."

Thor's eyes followed the path of Loki's outstretched hand over to the Teseract. "Is that-"

"It is," Loki confirmed. "And they were about to destroy themselves with it."

" _Enough!_ " Fury shouted, tired of the two visitors ignoring them. He had the satisfaction of seeing every single SHIELD agent tense up at his tone but the two... whoever they were just gave him blank stares, which turned his satisfaction back into irritation. "Will one of you please tell me what the fuck is going on?"

This time it was Thor who answered. Taking a few steps away from his brother and toward Fury, he said, "Gladly. You have uncovered a secret that was meant to stay buried. Since this realm is no longer a secure place for it, we will be taking the Tesseract with us."

The wildly amused grin on Loki's face had Fury seriously considering shooting it off of him. However, since Thor seemed to be taking over the negotiating, or rather starting the negotiating since Fury didn't actually remember agreeing to any such proceedings, he had to respond to him first.

"Over my dead body."

That his declaration was not the most effective of answers was revealed by Thor's response. He smiled, an expression tinged with the same patronizing manner of his brother.

"I'm sorry," the big guy said, not sounding sorry at all. "You seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that was a request. The Tesseract is Asgard's property, sent here so it would be kept out of the hands of those who would use it for nefarious purposes. Now that its presence on this realm is no longer secret, it must be returned to our custody."

"You say the Cube belongs to you but by your own admission you left it here in our hands. You also failed to intervene a few decades ago when it was stolen by someone who fully intended to use it for 'nefarious purposes'. I'm having a hard time seeing why we should give it over to you, especially since you've offered no proof of your claims."

Loki's expression turned bemused. "I would think a small thing such as saving you all from certain death would lend creedence to our word."

"I'll concede that you did something we couldn't by closing the portal, which is why we're still talking," Fury said. "But with something as powerful as the Tesseract we can't just hand it over to the first person who asks for it. The Cube is SHIELD property. Our people fished it out of the ocean years ago and have kept it safe ever since." He caught Loki raise an eyebrow at the mention of the Tesseract being found in the ocean but he said nothing so Fury went on. "We're perfectly capable of protecting it ourselves."

Loki muttered something that sounded like, 'And who will protect _you_?' but again it was Thor who gave an answer.

"The Tesseract does not belong to you. Mortals were chosen to be its stewards and they did their duty faithfully. Now that you have awakened it however, it cannot be left in your hands. Certainly not when you display such careless disregard for its power. We _will_ be taking it with us back to Asgard."

Fury was contemplating how many ways he was going to have to say, 'Not going to happen' before Thor would get it when Loki spoke up, though not to say anything to any of them.

"Brother, dear," he said, laying a hand on Thor's shoulder. "These are a sovereign people. They have not been under Asgard's rule for longer than either of us has lived. We cannot simply make demands and expect capitulation." He turned toward Fury again, and said, "Forgive my brother's insistence. He sometimes forgets he is not the crown prince of every realm."

While there was still something superior about Loki's tone it was far less obnoxious than it had been at the start, which was nice. Not to mention it was a little gratifying to hear Loki be just as condescending with his brother as he was with the rest of them. It sounded like his default mode.

"Is there somewhere else we might have this conversation?" Loki asked. "Somewhere with fewer weapons being brought to bear, perhaps."

"After what you just pulled with the portal and what I'm told happened on the surface, I have a hard time believing our weapons could actually do any damage to either of you," Fury replied.

Loki half-smiled at the remark. "That may be so. Nevertheless, I find these sort of talks proceed much better without daggers pressed to everyone's throats. Even if they are ineffectual."

_He'd get along well with Romanov_ , Fury thought, then mentally shuddered at the idea of the two of them together.

"There's a conference room two floors up from here," Barton suggested.

"All right. You two," Fury pointed at Thor and Loki, "follow him."

Hawkeye wordlessly waved over the six guards who had escorted Thor in and the entire group proceeded up the stairs. Fury waited until he was as sure as he could be that they were out of even Loki's exceptional earshot and keyed his radio again.

"Hill, where are we with Phase Two?"

_"The last truck is leaving now."_

"Find Coulson and meet me in the conference room above the test chamber."

_"Is the evac order still standing?"_

Fury paused to think. "The Tesseract is no longer a danger but I don't wany anyone back inside until we know more about our guests. Put any remaining non-essentials on trucks. Security personnel are to stay on the surface until they get word from me."

_"Yes, sir."_

He glanced at Selvig who was busying himself with the information being displayed by the rebooted computers. "You have those readings on anything portable?"

"Yes," he replied, gesturing to one of several laptops.

"Bring it and come with me."

Selvig complied with what was minimal dismay for him, though there was still something grudging about the way he yanked the various cords free from the computer before lifting it from the table. He left his fellow scientists behind and followed Fury up the stairs for what was the director was sure to be a very interesting conversation


	4. Chapter 4

As it turned out, the conference room was less a place to hold meetings and more just a room with a big table that looked to be made for spreading out blueprints or dismantled pieces of equipment. The overhead lights made a bit of an uncomfortable glare off the surface of the steel table and there were only four chairs, meaning most of the party was going to have to stand in the limited space around the table. It wasn't perfect but it would do. Thor and Loki were standing at what could be called the head of the table with Barton and the rest of the SHIELD escort pressed against the wall behind them. The two visitors seemed in no way bothered by the proximity of so much firepower at their backs, making Fury wonder just how invulnerable they were.

"Have a seat," Fury told them, taking a chair opposite Thor and Loki. Selvig stood unsure in the doorway until Fury pointed to the fourth and final seat, putting him right across from Loki.

"Perhaps we should begin with a proper introduction," Loki suggested. "Our abrupt arrival here is not how these matters are typically handled. As I have said, I am Loki Odinson. Thor is my brother, firstborn of Odin Borson, and crown prince of Asgard."

"I'm Nicholas Fury, director of Strategic Homeland Intervention and Enforcement Division. This is Dr. Erik Selvig. Now exactly where, or what, is Asgard?"

Thor looked incredulous. "You've not heard of it?"

"What I've heard was supposed to be myth, stories invented by an ancient civilization to pass the time."

"Do we appear fictional?"

His tone was so dry he sounded just like Loki and Fury couldn't help but smirk. Thor and Loki looked nothing alike but anyone who spent more than a minute or two in their company would know they were family.

"No you don't. But since all we have to go on are those stories, perhaps you could enlighten us."

Loki gave Fury a measuring look before he began speaking. "There are nine individual realms that comprise the branches of Yggdrasil. "

"And Yggdrasil is?"

"The world tree," Selvig muttered.

"Figuratively speaking, of course," Loki explained. "In actuality it is the cosmic nimbus that connects the Nine Realms and allows us to traverse between them."

"So, basically you're aliens," Barton said.

Loki's eyebrows drew together in slight confusion. "In the sense that we are foreign to this realm, yes. But I suspect in this context that wasn't your meaning."

"He means you aren't human," Fury clarified.

"Ah. No, we most definitely are not. Asgard is the home of the Aesir and chief among the Nine."

"If Asgard is so important, why do we know so little about it?"

"While we had some dealings with your ancestors, the All-Father forbade travel to this realm many of your years ago. I suppose that lengthy absence is what caused our existence to pass on into myth. It is very much a real place, however. We are the guardians and protectors of our subordinate realms, including Midgard."

"Midgard is what they call Earth," Selvig murmured to Fury, who gave him the side eye.

"I knew that one," he said. "What I'm still not clear on is why, if you're our supposed guardians, we've had no interaction with you since the Viking age."

"As my brother already explained, our father forbade contact with Midgard many years ago," Thor replied while crossing his arms and glancing up at the ceiling in a way that was just a hair too polite to be called an eye roll. Going by that and by the way he kept shifting in his seat, Fury could see patience wasn't his strong suit.

"Neither of you have said why."

Loki's mouth formed a grim line. Seeming to sense his brother's mood, Thor cast him a worried look. Loki brushed off the concern with a brief head shake. "Over a thousand of your years ago, Jötunheim invaded this world seeking to bring it under their dominion."

"And Jötunheim is..."

"Home of the Jötnar," Thor filled in, still keeping a close eye on his brother. "Frost giants."

"None of your kind would have survived in the environment they sought to create," Loki went on. "Our father heard the mortals call for aid and came with a battalion of Aesir. They drove the Jötnar back to their own world and ensured they could never leave it again."

"Many mortals lost their lives before the battle was through," Thor added. "The cost was so great the All-Father decreed that we should no longer interact with you, lest our doing so draw another conflict here."

"A decree that was not always strictly followed," Loki said with the wry tone of someone referring to an inside joke. From that and the lopsided grin that found its way onto his face, Fury knew there had to be a story or two behind that sentence. Whatever pall the mention of those frost giants had cast over him had clearly fled.

The Aesir fell silent as the humans digested the information. Gods apparently were real—after a fashion—as were the monsters they fought. Fury had yet to come up with a means of verifying anything Thor and Loki told them but neither could he come up with a reason for them to be lying. Sure they could just want the Tesseract for themselves, but if that was their endgame they were using the strangest opening gambit imaginable. By all appearances they were capable of just waltzing out the door with the relic in hand if they wanted but instead, they were sitting around a table giving a history lesson. The fact that Loki had enough power to single-handedly save them all from the portal's collapse but still chose to negotiate for the Tesseract was a pretty damn good demonstration that they wanted things to happen amiably, meaning odds were good he and Thor were telling the truth.

Which brought him back around to his original premise: gods and monsters. And this started out as such a normal day.

Hoping that things were not about to get even more interesting, Fury changed the focus of the discussion back to the what brought them all together to begin with.

"Where does the Tesseract fit into all of this?"

"The Tesseract has long been in Asgard's care," Loki explained. "Many years ago, our father entrusted it to the mortals of this realm for safe-keeping."

"You see, that's where I'm having trouble. If the rest of your people are as powerful and advanced as you seem to be, why couldn't you keep it safe in your world?"

"The Tesseract possesses great power. There is no shortage of entities who would wish to bend its power to their own ends. Your antecedents were too primitive to so much as conceive of trying such a thing. They were satisfied to keep it hidden as a service to their gods."

Fury cocked an eyebrow. "Gods," he repeated.

Loki shrugged. "They were quite primitive.

"It was Asgard's intention to once again make ourselves known to you once your people advanced far enough in their technological and scientific development," Thor said.

"Which you may have done," Loki continued. "However, regardless of your current level of development the Tesseract must return to Asgard with us."

If it was anyone but him in his place, Fury might have been impressed at the way Thor and Loki continued to act as though they were running the show despite the fact that they were outnumbered and outgunned. Considering where they were and what was on the table however, he couldn't let it continue.

Hill and Coulson chose that moment to make their appearance and take up position at Fury's back. He welcomed their presence because it would give weight to what he was about to say.

"That's not going to happen."

Loki and Thor exchanged an amused look. "Director Fury," Thor began, "Should we wish to take the Tesseract from your possession, there is naught you could do to stop us."

"Maybe not, but I'm willing to bet we could make it difficult," Fury retorted with a confidence he didn't quite feel.

"I'm sure there's no call for such unpleasantness," Loki put in before either Thor or Fury could say anything else. "I understand how our appearance here was rather a shock as none of our kind have set foot on this realm for centuries. Your lack of knowledge of Asgard and the other realms gives you no basis to take us at our word, therefore your reluctance to turn over the Tesseract is not unfounded. Trust is earned, is it not?"

Though he wasn't sure the question wasn't rhetorical, Fury answered, "Yes, it is."

"Then that is where we must begin. You know our intent and despite our ability to do so, we would prefer not to take the Tesseract by force. How might we make that happen?"

"You can start by explaining exactly why the Cube is better off in your hands than ours. What makes you so sure we can't handle it?"

Loki's mouth quirked as though he had a thought but caught himself before he spoke it aloud. He put a more neutral expression back in place when he said, "The Tesseract is far more than a simple power source, but you know this, I think."

Fury didn't give an answer but Loki didn't seem to expect one. He only paused to give them a knowing look before going on.

"The Tesseract possess great power, but it also emits a unique energy of its own. Did you not wonder how I knew of your efforts here?"

"You said you 'sensed' it."

"Indeed. And I can promise you this, if I did, so did others."

"Others?" Hill asked.

"Yes. ones who will not be as... polite in their dealings with you."

"You mean hostiles," Coulson put in.

Loki considered the word. "That is a mild term for it but yes, I suppose. The Tesseract is not the only artifact of its kind. There are others, each of their own distinct power which would be tempting enough to those who crave such things, but combine them together and the resulting power is enough to destroy the universe and remake it according to one's own desires. Power such as that corrupts even the strongest of wills. Only a truly mad creature would attempt to wield it and to our misfortune, the universe is not devoid of such madness.

"Our father and others have kept the artifacts separate and secure for this very reason. The locations and nature of each one are secrets known only to a few. Your discovery of the Tesseract and subsequent experimentation as good as sent a signal to inform all sufficiently advanced civilizations of its presence on this realm. You have opened yourself up to attack from every corner of the galaxy and trust me, you are not ready to defend yourselves."

Fury leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, hands clasped in front of him. "That's sounds like a good reason for the Tesseract to remain in our custody. If you're telling the truth and we've sent up a flare saying it's here then we need any advantage we can get."

Loki shook his head with a sigh. "Director, if you knew the danger you are inviting to your doorstep, you would not be so set on retaining the Tesseract. It is only a matter of time before another comes seeking it, one who will not be content with merely asking for it."

"So far I'm hearing a lot of you telling us not to hold on to the Cube and not much reason why I should give it to _you_."

"Asgard's vault is one of the most secure of all the realms," Thor said, radiating confidence. "And our defences are more than capable of dealing with any who may try to infiltrate it."

"I'm still not seeing what we'd get out of this," Fury said.

Thor blinked, looking somewhat confused, but his brother was by no means slow on the uptake. Eyes narrowing, Loki said, "You speak of compensation."

"You're asking us to give up not only the Tesseract as an energy source, but also any other scientific or technological advancements that could be made through studying it," Coulson explained in his usual businesslike manner.

"That's a hell of a sacrifice," Fury added.

"Not when weighed against the fate of billions," Loki countered.

"Be that as it may, you've told us what we stand to lose if we don't give the Tesseract to you. I'd like to know what we have to gain if we do."

"Asgard's stores of gold are vast," Thor revealed, to Loki's very obvious chagrin. He rolled his eyes but didn't bother stopping Thor from offering, "I'm sure we can determine an agreeable sum."

"While I'm not going to take that offer off the table, monetary compensation wasn't what I had in mind."

Expression changing from irritation to one that was mildly intrigued, Loki asked, "Then what is?"

"I'm hoping you can tell me. According to you, there is a vast array of life outside our world that we aren't aware of, a lot of it unfriendly. Since we are so hopelessly outgunned, we could use some intel on exactly what's coming for us."

"That is easy enough to arrange."

"And should any of those unfriendlies show themselves here, having something to defend ourselves with would be nice."

"Not to mention some support from your people," Hill put in.

"Since you're _so_ much more advanced than us," Barton added dryly.

"Midgard has always been a protectorate of Asgard and will continue to be," Thor assured them. "Should enemy forces come to your realm, we will render aid."

"That's all well and good for you to say, but what happens if you guys are tied up in your own corner of the galaxy?" Hill asked. "We need the means to defend ourselves with or without you."

"Any alliance or trade agreements can only be brokered with the All-Father," Loki said. "We may discuss terms but the final approval must come from him."

"Fine," Fury replied. "Then let's discuss."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anybody else find the phrase "cosmic nimbus" as funny as I do? I was looking for a way to describe the nature of Yggdrasil and I swear to god, that's what it calls on the MCU Wiki. I mean that's basically calling it a space cloud.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have something kind of exciting to tell you all so please don't forget to read the notes at the bottom of the chapter.

Several hours after the Dark Energy Project's near destruction a draft of an agreement between Asgard and Earth was finalized. The Tesseract would remain on Earth until the agreement was ratified by both the All-Father (a designation Nick Fury still thought was pretentious even after hearing it numerous times), and the World Security Council on the condition that no further testing or experimentation be done by the humans. Should they violate that little caveat, and apparently Asgard would know if they did (though both Thor and Loki were non-specific as to how), the Cube would be removed from their possession regardless of any precautions they had in place to prevent that from happening. Loki made that point abundantly—not to mention annoyingly—clear by somehow transporting himself to the vault where the Tesseract was being stored while the negotiations were going on and removing it without ever seeming to leave the room or tripping any of security measures or alerting the guards, and subsequently returning to the table, Tesseract in hand. Fury wondered if Romanov would be impressed or pissed off by that level of super stealth. He was also more than a little relieved that it was Thor who volunteered to stay behind and babysit the Tesseract while Loki went back home and ran the proposal by daddy. The idea of Loki left to his own devices in a top-secret facility was enough to give him heart palpitations.

Once the treaty went into effect, Asgard would take possession of the Cube and in return, provide intelligence on the worlds and peoples that were beyond Earth's present ability to contact. While they stopped short of agreeing to provide any weaponry, they did offer aid in the various scientific and technological fields that should speed their progress. And should the need arise, Asgard's forces were committed to Earth's defence.

As far as first-contact scenarios go, it could have been much worse. Instead of threats of planetary destruction and demands for absolute surrender they got a pair of mostly peaceful, if somewhat snooty, aliens who were willing to talk first and shoot later. The only real downside was the fuss the WSC was going to kick up over relinquishing the Tesseract after only scratching the surface of its potential. But any good politician knew, though most were loath to admit, that it wasn't a successful negotiation unless each party gave up something. The trade-off they bargained for wasn't a bad one, even if it did seem to favour the Asgardians. In the long-run having the Aesir on their side would probably prove more beneficial than the Cube by itself.

With the preliminary talks done, Loki stood up from his chair. "I shall return within a day with answer from the All-Father."

The time frame caught Fury off-guard. He'd need at least that long just to get back to Washington and brief the Council, let alone convince them that this was the best course of action. Something this big needed to be done in person from somewhere he knew beyond any doubt was secure.

"We might need more time than that."

"Worry not, Director," Loki said. "Time is not a concern. Asgard is long used to the absenting of her princes for lengthy periods. If we are needed back the journey is a brief one."

"I won't be remaining at this facility. I'll be returning to our headquarters for now, but I can't say for sure where I'll be when you get back."

Again Thor and Loki shared knowing look that made Fury wonder if the two of them weren't telepathic on top of all their other gifts. Either that or the brothers knew each other far too well.

"That won't be an issue," Loki replied, still wearing a slight grin. "I shall find you wherever you may be."

And didn't that sound just a bit creepy. Again Loki was disinclined to elaborate on _how_ he would do what he said but Fury didn't waste time trying to get it out of him. Between the two of them it was obvious Thor was the more open one and Fury had every intention of siccing Agent Romanov on him once Loki was gone. That woman could get anyone to spill their guts without them even knowing they'd been interrogated.

"Then I guess we'll see you later," Fury told him. He glanced at Barton. "See our guest to the surface."

Loki gave him a farewell nod as Thor also rose to his feet. "I'll accompany you, brother."

The Asgardians made their exit leaving Fury alone with Coulson and Hill, who asked, "What are your orders, sir?"

"Stand down the evacuation order to level two. All non-essentials are to remain out and await further instructions."

"And the scientists?" Coulson asked.

"Selvig and his people stay. I want them picking Thor's brain for as long as they can. The Cube may be off-limits but I'm sure he can give them more than enough to keep them busy."

As if summoned by the conversation, Erik Selvig wandered back in the room.

"Something you need, doctor?"

"My laptop," he said. "The computers downstairs are all showing different readings from the Tesseract's activity. I need to compare them with the data the laptop collected but it's not in the test chamber. I thought maybe I left it up here but..." he trailed off, gesturing to the empty surface of the table.

The last Fury could recall seeing the computer was when they took a break from negotiating and Loki was peppering the doctor with questions about how it worked. That was hours ago, however. He didn't remember paying any attention to it beyond then and neither did Coulson or Hill.

"Maybe one of the techs took it," Selvig guessed. He turned to leave.

"Selvig," Fury called out, making him pause. "Your niece, Jane Foster, is a scientist too, isn't she?"

At the mere mention of Foster's name, Selvig's hackles were up. With a look that promised swift and painful retribution should anything happen to her he didn't like, he answered, "Astrophysicist. And she's not my niece. I only knew her father. I wasn't related to him."

Fury played off his concern by keeping a casual tone. "Whatever. Her area of interest is wormholes, correct?"

"Yes."

"I seem to recall she's considered something of a radical in her field."

"How would you-"

"Background check."

"We're very thorough," Coulson put in.

"What do you want with her?" Selvig quietly demanded.

"You think she'd like the chance to prove her theories correct? It sounds like the Agardians have the whole wormhole thing down to a science. We could use people with her background to help us understand them, and whatever else the Asgardians bring to the table."

Selvig eyed them, radiating distrust. They had to drag him nearly kicking and screaming into the Dark Energy project and he was suspicious on spec of anything connected with SHIELD. Given the other connections the background check turned up, Fury wasn't surprised.

"For what it's worth, Doctor, SHIELD had nothing to do with Bruce Banner's disappearance and Doctor Pym was before my time."

"I'll think about it," was all Selvig was willing to concede.

"Fair enough."

The doctor left without saying another word, leaving the three SHIELD agents alone again. Fury was silent even though it was clear the other two were waiting for a dismissal.

"Is there anything else, sir?" Coulson prompted.

Fury glanced at the door, waiting a beat to be sure no one else was about to drop in. "I'm reactivating the Avengers Initiative."

Coulson and Hill both looked at him with the same confusion. "Sir?" she asked.

"I'm not taking the Asgardians at their word, not until we have something more to trust in than promises. Without the Tesseract, Earth needs its own defenders."

"The Initiative was shut down for a reason," Hill replied. "Stark is a loose canon. Banner makes Stark look like a zen master. Rogers is-"

"Things have changed," Fury cut her off. "We didn't have the right incentive before. Now we know for a fact there are other superpowered beings out there, including unfriendlies. Nothing brings people together like a common enemy."

Hill and Coulson were too experienced to voice their dubious opinions of the idea, even if Fury could read the doubt in their eyes.

"That's all, Agents. Time to go back to work."

The two of them rose with a chorus of 'Yes, sir's and took their leave. Fury remained where he was, reflecting on the day's events. Less than twenty-four hours ago, extra-terrestrial life was purely theoretical. In that short span of time they had not only made first contact but also formed the beginnings of an alliance with a race advanced enough to still consider Earth technology primitive and interstellar travel as just another day at the office. It was the most drastic of understatements to say things had changed, as he'd told Agent Hill. The whole world was about to change, even if no one outside the building knew it yet. And SHIELD was going to be right on the front lines for all of it.

It was definitely time to go to work.

**Author's Note:**

> Thus endeth the saga of the silly humans and the infinity stone, aka how Loki still accidentally formed the Avengers even though he's a good guy. I got the sense from some of the comments that a few of you were hoping for the appearance of Thanos and the Chitauri. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out a reason to bring them in when they didn't have Loki on their side so I'm sorry if any of you were hoping for more action and less talking.
> 
> Now onto the Big News: The more time I spend with this verse, the bigger ideas I seem to get. One of them is a full-fledged _The Dark World_ AU fic. The plot bunnies have been running rampant in my mind and I've got most of the story plotted in my head already (which is a big deal for me). I'll be starting work on that as soon as I get the next part of the _Broken Heart_ verse up so if you've enjoyed these two fics then stay tuned. More is on the way.
> 
> Comments are lovely. And each one shall be answered, I promise.
> 
> Feel free to come see me on tumblr at[ theclassicblunders](http://theclassicblunders.tumblr.com).


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